EDMONTON—Danielle Smith, Alberta’s new premier-designate, could soon have a seat in the Legislative Assembly after one UCP MLA resigned and offered Smith her seat.
Among the seven candidates running to be leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) and Alberta premier, Smith was the only one not currently a sitting MLA. She won the race on Thursday night on the sixth ballot with 53.8 percent of the votes, beating out former Premier Jason Kenney’s finance minister Travis Toews who placed second with 46.2 percent.
Smith will run in the open seat in Brooks-Medicine Hat, sources who ran her leadership campaign confirmed to The Epoch Times on Friday.
There’s also an open seat in Calgary-Elbow, but Smith told CBC’s Power and Politics she’d prefer to represent a rural riding to show the importance of their representation in the legislature.
UCP MLA Michaela Frey said on Friday morning she provided her resignation to Smith, Speaker of the House Nathan Cooper, and the clerk of the assembly.
“I look forward to what comes next and encourage [Danielle Smith] to run in Brooks-Medicine Hat,” she wrote on Twitter.
“Our community would be well served by her leadership & representation.”
In 2019, Frey won her seat with 60.7 percent of the votes, followed by the NDP candidate with 17.9 percent.
Smith has said she’ll be looking to gain a seat in the legislature in a byelection ahead of Alberta’s next general election against Rachel Notley’s NDP in spring 2023.
The UCP government will need to table a budget ahead of the vote, and Smith has limited time to make good on her campaign promises before that election—such as to introduce an Alberta Sovereignty Act, a proposal which would bar federal legislation deemed harmful to Alberta and its interests.
Smith has also said she would not call an early election to seek a broad mandate on her policy ideas if she won the vote and became Alberta’s next premier.
“When early election calls occur, the public is suspicious,” she told reporters on Oct. 3. “They think that there’s some advantage that the person is trying to gain.
During most of the leadership race, Smith maintained that she would run in her home riding of Livingstone-Macleod, an electoral district currently represented by UCP MLA Roger Reid, who won his seat with over 70 percent of voters’ support in 2019.
UCP MLA Doug Schweitzer said in August he would step down from Calgary-Elbow riding. Smith said earlier this week she wasn’t sure if she would call a byelection for the riding.
That riding isn’t a safe seat for the UCP. It was held by the Liberals in 2008 and by the Alberta Party from 2015-2019.
Calgary businessman Jon Horsman, who briefly ran for the UCP leadership before dropping out ahead of the party deadline, has expressed interest in running for the UCP nomination in the riding.
